Somali pirates II...new ship, new UH-OH...

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

...That said, I'm willing to sacrifice my time in order to become the APS helo pilot if there is no one else, provided Jamis's Sugar Momma or someone else pays for the training. Helo training costs make fixed wing training costs look like nothing...

That's because in fixed wing, if something goes wrong, you've got a glider and can usually trade altitude for time while you try to sort it out.  Rotor, something goes wrong, you've got a crater...  Altitude then becomes a liability, as the more altitude, the deeper the crater.

Suggest you google "autorotation"  -  if things go wrong in a fixed wing, you need a long, straight, level place to set down.  Helos only need a space a little bit bigger than the chopper...

theres a book titled "chickenhawk" by robert mason  that describes deliberately landing in a hole slightly smaller than the helo, then taking it back up with wounded on board. he sings praises of main rotor strength. said trick is not to ding ANYTHING with the delicate tail rotor.  decent book

[BReilley]

One can acquire them, quite legally.  No domestic weapons, of course.  Price ranges from a non-functioning airframe for at worst $300k, to a fully functional Mi-24 SuperHind MK IV rebuilt by ATE for roughly $10m (airframe, rebuild, avionics, shipping, import, FAA inspections, maintenance, spares, et al).  More if you want a plush interior or non-standard civvie avionics (like FLIR or whatnot)

Holy... I want a Hind!  Those are bad-ass!

[stevelyn]

I'm sure we could get a surplus Hind from some sympathetic Russian arms dealer. It's built like a tank and armed to the teeth, with room for a squad of marines inside. Perfect eh?

Or APS adventurers.

[Bigjake]

I'm sure we could get a surplus Hind from some sympathetic Russian arms dealer. It's built like a tank and armed to the teeth, with room for a squad of marines inside. Perfect eh?

Or APS adventurers.

APS adventurers with select fire small arms could mop up a bunch of african pirates in short order, pooling our collective military experience and love of guns.

[Manedwolf]

I'm sure we could get a surplus Hind from some sympathetic Russian arms dealer. It's built like a tank and armed to the teeth, with room for a squad of marines inside. Perfect eh?

Or APS adventurers.

APS adventurers with select fire small arms could mop up a bunch of african pirates in short order, pooling our collective military experience and love of guns.

Select-fire?

If I had pirates in little boats approaching my ship, I would want one of two things. If they were way off approaching in a straight line, a scoped semiauto or bolt-action rifle in a heavier caliber, anything from a favored FAL (acceptably minute-of-badguy) to a Rem 700 or even a PSL. Removing the RPG-wielder, then the guy handling the tiller tends to discourage that approach, I'd think.

If they were circling about, a deck-mounted bullet hose or Mk 19.

[Regolith]

I would think that trying to shoot a scoped rifle when your ship is rocking back and fourth on the waves would be a bit of a pain the ass.  I'd rather have a bullet hose in those conditions.

[yesitsloaded]

M2 mounted on the prow or one of those Bushmaster 25mm guns.

[Physics]

I'm sure we could get a surplus Hind from some sympathetic Russian arms dealer. It's built like a tank and armed to the teeth, with room for a squad of marines inside. Perfect eh?

One can acquire them, quite legally.  No domestic weapons, of course.  Price ranges from a non-functioning airframe for at worst $300k, to a fully functional Mi-24 SuperHind MK IV rebuilt by ATE for roughly $10m (airframe, rebuild, avionics, shipping, import, FAA inspections, maintenance, spares, et al).  More if you want a plush interior or non-standard civvie avionics (like FLIR or whatnot)

There are seven Mi-24 in private hands in the US.   http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/mmsinqSQL.asp?mmstxt=5580103

Oh my... 5 of the 7 on that list are registered to a company that is just down the street of me.  I've NEVER seen a Hind in the skies above Portland, and if I did, until now I think I would have freaked out a little bit.  I'm not accustomed to seeing Russian attack helicopters in my little world.  

[Matthew Carberry]

We have enough former and retired Marines that a few designated marksmen on the deck of our mothership could deliver death and destruction with simple small arms.
I know there's at least one sailor around here that shoots pretty good too.  You Marines can't be grabbin' the glory ALL the time you know.

Yup.  There's one retired Air Force guy around these parts who's been known to hit a golf ball at 1/2 klick from a cold bore, too. 

So we're ready if we're ever attacked by cold golf balls. 

[Manedwolf]

I would think that trying to shoot a scoped rifle when your ship is rocking back and fourth on the waves would be a bit of a pain the ass.  I'd rather have a bullet hose in those conditions.

If the seas are choppy, certainly. But they're sometimes calm, too.

[AJ Dual]

The long-running space-age surge in the orbital imaging field, Google Earth, satellite communications etc& I'm thinking there's a business opportunity here.

One of the big problems in piracy protection is the fact that none of the commercial operators can get the required licensing, or port permissions to go armed. And the more effective non-lethals like sonic cannon and high-pressure water hoses are still too pricey for the midsize and small operators as well.

I'm thinking a constellation satellite subscription service with low-orbit surveillance capability, and two-way data/video uplink/downlink to a central service and control center would be nice. An operator being chased by pirates can call on the service, which will locate their boat and the pirate vessel from orbit, then confirm belligerence/attempted piracy from a zoom lens video feed from the subscribing ship.

Then an orbital kinetic THOR/god-rod/Flying Crowbar is dropped on the offending vessel.

Rates might have to be calculated like insurance, based on operating routes, prior claims/calls for assistance etc. However, at least on the hardware side, the subscribing carrier only has to invest in some simple and relatively off-the-shelf communication equipment, while the security provider does all the heavy lifting.

[ctdonath]

If I had pirates in little boats approaching my ship, I would want one of two things.

Thing is, that's where the problem starts: you assume you KNOW that pirates in little boats are approaching your ship. Most likely you have no clue what's going on until you hear gunfire down the hall. A few rubber inflatable boats have practically no viable radar cross-section, so you won't see 'em coming that way. You likely won't have the staff required to keep watch 360* around the boat over a 1-square-mile area 24/7. With the noise of the boat and the waves, you probably won't hear the converging small craft nor the team scaling the sides.

...then again, considering the cargo of this boat, that's a problem that must be solved.

[roo_ster]

theres a book titled "chickenhawk" by robert mason  that describes deliberately landing in a hole slightly smaller than the helo, then taking it back up with wounded on board. he sings praises of main rotor strength. said trick is not to ding ANYTHING with the delicate tail rotor.  decent book

I read that book, too.  Worth the time I spent reading it.

Kind of a surprise ending, no?

[MicroBalrog]

Then an orbital kinetic THOR/god-rod/Flying Crowbar is dropped on the offending vessel.

Not possible. Godrods cannot be made guided, and a moving ship will move out of the way by the time it descends.

[AJ Dual]

Then an orbital kinetic THOR/god-rod/Flying Crowbar is dropped on the offending vessel.

Not possible. Godrods cannot be made guided, and a moving ship will move out of the way by the time it descends.

I know.  I was just fantasizing/being funny...

Well, IMO, they CAN be made guided, MIRV's do it after all, but there's no way it could be cost effective. Margins are narrow enough.   Not to mention the intl. treaty problems for a commercial org to orbit space weapons are insurmountable.

OTOH, the solid state pizeo-electric actuators that are being explored for quasi-guided "smart shells" in the 30mm on down to .50 caliber might have some promise. I don't think fins would work, but maybe a "wiggling" drag stabilized conical tail might work. 

There's not much time, but in the last few miles, some combination of GPS, and video/optical triangulation and passive recpeption of telemetry (on some freq. combination that can get through the ionized plasma sheath...) from the defending ship might be able to achieve "minute of trawler". Although "minute of zodiac" is too much to hope for. But it would obviate the need for any kind of optical sensor on the god-rod's nose, and would minimize the amount of onboard electronics, a tad...

Of course even a not-so-near miss could still be pretty bad... for everybody.  What's the KE in joules of say... 50kg moving at 5000 M/s?

OK did some math... 6.25 x 10^8 J, assuming nearly 100% conversion efficiency on impact with the boat or the water. (Does not matter, really....)  how's that stack  up against a common torpedo or exocet missile warhead?

[MicroBalrog]

Not to mention the intl. treaty problems for a commercial org to orbit space weapons are insurmountable.

There are, to my knowledge, no treaties limiting conventional space armaments. Current treaties only prohibit WMDs.

[RevDisk]

Not to mention the intl. treaty problems for a commercial org to orbit space weapons are insurmountable.

There are, to my knowledge, no treaties limiting conventional space armaments. Current treaties only prohibit WMDs.

Sufficiently kinetic bolides would probably be considered WMD's. 

[stevelyn]

I stopped short of using "mercenaries" to describe APS adventurers because mercs are soldiers who work for the highest bidder.

APS adventurers go out and gets $^!t done because we think it's fun.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i think pirates offer a great opportunity to beta test a variety of weapons.  they are stateless so aren't protected by treaty

[Regolith]

I stopped short of using "mercenaries" to describe APS adventurers because mercs are soldiers who work for the highest bidder.

APS adventurers go out and gets $^!t done because we think it's fun.

Of course, we WOULD ask that we be compensated for our efforts, preferably by the insurance agency that wrote the policy for the boat.

Gotta pay for our liquor and ammo somehow. 

[Antibubba]

Then an orbital kinetic THOR/god-rod/Flying Crowbar is dropped on the offending vessel.

Not possible. Godrods cannot be made guided, and a moving ship will move out of the way by the time it descends.

What about using the Rods of Ra?

[K Frame]

The Rods of Ra do not concern themselves with temporal problems such as pirates.

[Manedwolf]

I stopped short of using "mercenaries" to describe APS adventurers because mercs are soldiers who work for the highest bidder.

APS adventurers go out and gets $^!t done because we think it's fun.

Of course, we WOULD ask that we be compensated for our efforts, preferably by the insurance agency that wrote the policy for the boat.

Gotta pay for our liquor and ammo somehow. 

You aren't thinking current market.

Book deal when you get back.

[richyoung]

...That said, I'm willing to sacrifice my time in order to become the APS helo pilot if there is no one else, provided Jamis's Sugar Momma or someone else pays for the training. Helo training costs make fixed wing training costs look like nothing...

That's because in fixed wing, if something goes wrong, you've got a glider and can usually trade altitude for time while you try to sort it out.  Rotor, something goes wrong, you've got a crater...  Altitude then becomes a liability, as the more altitude, the deeper the crater.

Suggest you google "autorotation"  -  if things go wrong in a fixed wing, you need a long, straight, level place to set down.  Helos only need a space a little bit bigger than the chopper...

I've personally witnessed several autorotations......doesn't look like a fun ride to me......

Supposedly, a good pilot can do a zero-ground run autorotation in a Huey, pick the bird back up, rotate it 90 degrees, set it back down, pick it back up, etc, for a full 360 degrees - (probably not at max gross, tho...)

[The Annoyed Man]

I stopped short of using "mercenaries" to describe APS adventurers because mercs are soldiers who work for the highest bidder.

APS adventurers go out and gets $^!t done because we think it's fun.

Of course, we WOULD ask that we be compensated for our efforts, preferably by the insurance agency that wrote the policy for the boat.

Gotta pay for our liquor and ammo somehow. 

You aren't thinking current market.

Book deal when you get back.

You forget something else: TV. Military Channel or some other would probably like to embed a camera guy with us...I'm sure we can get some sponsorship from there, to add to the money we'll get from insurance companies, and the book deal .
So, when do we start?